Video
AMD Platform Launch Imminent, RV670 Details Solidified
New corporate guidance sets AMD’s big launch date; RV670 specifications fail to leave much to the imagination
AMD’s current launch date for its next-generation desktop processor, Phenom, its next-generation desktop chipset, RD790, and its next-generation graphics processor, RV670, is tenatively set for November 19, 2007.
The story of Phenom and RD790 is all but a done deal. Phenom’s big brother, server-based Barcelona, met mediocre fanfare while RD790 production boards have surfaced here and there for almost a year.
Radeon HD 3800, previously codenamed RV670, was a little bit more of a mystery, at least until this weekend. AMD publicly announced RV670 would entail a process node shrink of Radeon HD 2900 (R600) — a move from 80nm to 55nm.
AMD guidance leaked to media last week also elaborated on the company’s DirectX 10.1 superiority. Typically, media leaks that occur just before competition launches (in this case NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GT) detail incredible performance gains — the push for next-generation DirectX support did not fit the status quo for a GPU launch.
Another leak came this weekend when a serendipitous visit to the Diamond Multimedia website revealed exact details of three new Radeons: one low-end SKU, a high-end GDDR3 SKU and a high-end GDDR4 SKU. Google Cache details all three offerings.
Radeon HD 2900 XT caused a ruckus when it was learned that the card did not include a Universal Video Decoder, as advertised. Third party Radeon manufacturers could not confirm or deny that this decoder is in place for RV670, though the argument for R600 was that it’s processing power is capable enough to not need an HD accelerator via hardware. This may easily be the case for RV670 as well.
Pricing on RV670 has not been confirmed. However, given that Radeon HD 3850 is essentially Radeon HD 2900 in a single-slot design, it’s easy to expect AMD will price those cards similarly to R600 cards available today.
